Google Dwight Howard and hit the letter f and you’ll see that he has become a popular search for his foul situation. Currently, Howard leads the NBA in technical fouls — for which he is serving a one-game suspension for the Orlando Magic in their contest against the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night.

But is the Orlando Magic post just undisciplined in his defense or is this the case of another big man being targeted by the referees? We caught up with NBA analyst Kevin McHale to get his take on the Dwight Howard foul situation.

“Well, a little bit of both,” Kevin McHale told the Orlando Sentinel. “Two things, you can’t waste fouls early in the game. Early once in a while early in the game, I see him take a silly foul. Secondly, he’s got to knock off the technical fouls. He can’t afford to be suspended coming down the stretch for this team. You’ve got to have some discipline when you’re playing defense. There are times when discretion has got to be the better part of valor. You just maybe have to let a guy get a lay-up and not foul him and then live to fight another day later on in the game when you’re not in much foul trouble. But his development is very impressive and he’s getting better all the time.”

Comments

I believe that what is being done to Dwight Howard in the NBA is intentional, because the league bolsters up certain NBA players much more than others and I feel this is directly related to the shoe companies they promote. The technical fouls are done to limit Dwights intensity of play and domination so that at the end of the season he is more tentative because honestly, he should probably have about half the number of technicals. The NBA commmissioner knows this and so do the referees, but I believe they were actually told to do this to Dwight. The NBA is a business and right now they want to market Lebron, Kobe, Dwayne, Carmelo and Chris. They seem to want to limit what Dwight can do. I wonder if its is because Dwight represents Reebok and not Nike. I believe its intentional and planned. Its wicked.

i agree with the fact that Dwight is targeted more with the T’s and gets the living crap beat out of him every night… but i don’t think your shoe brand statement is accurate. i was under the impression that his shoe brand sponsorship is with Adidas (Beasts) just like the clothing sponsor of the NBA (revolution 30 jerseys.)

Yeah, the shoes conspiracy is a reach. The real reason behind the double standard is that the league is afraid that a move towards dominant post play will slow the game down and drop scoring to levels similar to when Shaq was in his prime.

I can see your point Juliana.
I believe that David Stern does somehow manipulate the referee union, the Refs and owners to help his NBA rake in millions more by marketing certain players more than others.
Your claim is kind of a hit and miss claim because it is very easy to say that LeBron jerseys and gear will sell more than Howard’s. So of course Stern would directly or indirectly ask for help in making the big man miss out on games that can cost them a chance to make it to the finals in hopes that Miami will make it for better revenue for the NBA.
On the other hand, wouldn’t it also make sense to have several more elite players to market for the NBA? Would you rather have 200 elite players to market or 7?
Not everyone like LeBron. (I think he’s over rated but a good player)

I bet if Melo came to Orlando instead of NY, the Magic would be unstoppable and the Techs that are called on Howard would fad away.

I just don’t understand why didn’t the Magic go after Melo instead of Gil and company? Everyone knew Carmelo wanted out of Denver back in October.

The Magic could have traded Lewis, Carter, and Petrus plus a first round pick for Carmelo. Hell, even throw in Nelson if you had to.
If they landed Melo, Orlando would have became a basketball market with-in a year.

Howard is going to leave Orlando after next season. (He has no reason to stay here)

After next season, Howard is going to seek to play in a “basketball market”. (Los Angeles, Boston, New York or Chicago)
Those are the only true NBA markets. And even though Florida has no state tax, Howard’s will be able to make more money from better endorsement deals from those markets to off-set the state tax there.
LeBron made more money from his Jersey sales in the first 6 months of last season with Cleveland then he did the first 6 months with Miami. Not only does he get a yearly check with Nike, he also gets a percent of sales of his gear. In Cleveland, people were mainly buying James jerseys; in Miami, they were buying Wade, Bosh and James, jerseys.

Howard can get a contract in Orlando worth 20 million a year, and make another 3 to 5 million a year with sales of his gear.

On the flip side, If Howard went to a basketball market like, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago or New York, he would only need a 12 million a year contact and make another 25 to 30 million in endorsements due to the better market. And if you figured out the state taxes that he would have to pay, it would clearly show that he would net more in those markets then in Orlando.

Even though LeBron isn’t paying any state tax now, he is making a lot less due to loss revenue because of the market.

Kevin McHale played in an era of finess Centers except Moses Malone and Greg Kite. Jabbar and Parrish were the perenial centers in the finals. If Mchale went through what Dwight goes every night he would had retired way earlier. McHale had some weird physique, like if he suffers of stiff neck and Herman Munster abnormal shoulders. I cant believe Parrish lasted soooooo long too. Parrish was maybe a grandfather when he finaly retired.

McHale’s comments come accross as misinformed. He seems to be speaking of personal fouls more than technical fouls. The technical fouls dwight is getting come from the league’s new “respect the game” technicals, which in itself disrespects the game by removing the true emotion of the game. All Dwight has to do is look at a ref in a manner the ref doesn’t approve of, try to protect himself (because the refs won’t), say something to an opposing player the ref doesn’t agree with, say something to his teammate the ref doesn’t agree with, and/or sometimes just look incredulous that a call was made or not made. I’m sorry, players aren’t going to agree with referees most of the time, but unless they are targetting the referees or making personal derrogatory comments towards them a technical is far from what is deserved. The Player’s Union needs to step in and get this rule reduced or rebuffed, because it creates an unclear discriminatory work environment.